Hansen keeping options open

Sacramento (Calif.) Sheldon linebacker Tom Hansen was expected to take an official visit to Northwestern this past weekend. With a lot on his plate, the talented athlete has decided to put all trips on hold for now and will focus on finishing the year strong on the field.

Hansen, 6-1, 230 pounds had a solid junior season earning all-state underclass honors despite missing part of the year with an ankle injury. He then really put his name on the map at the NorCal Nike camp where he shattered the *SPARQ Rating record with a score of 112.42 after clocking a 4.62 in the 40, 4.48 in the shuttle, jumped 38 inches in the vertical and did 46 reps on the bench.

The last time we spoke with Hansen, he mentioned he had lined up a visit for this past weekend to Northwestern but there is just a little too much on his plate right now.

"This was just a busy weekend," Hansen's mother Barbara Edwards said. "Sheldon has a chance to make the playoffs and we all thought it would be best for Tom to focus on his season right now. On top of that, our freshman son had a game this weekend out of town and Tom also has finals this week so there was a lot going on."

Hansen is still being heavily recruited by several schools right now and the family just sent out game films to a handful of colleges.

"Nevada and Oregon State are hoping to set up visits for December," Edwards said. "Tom also talked to Northwestern recently about setting a visit for when his season is over. Coach Riley (Oregon St head coach) was just at the school a few weeks ago. A number of other schools have requested film including Notre Dame, UCLA, Kansas State, Cal and Washington so we set out tapes of his first four games. Other schools that are calling include Ohio State, Wyoming, Montana and Utah."

Through eight games this season, Hansen has 55 tackles, six quarterback sacks and recovered four fumbles.